Michigan Offense Run schemes: vs Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin and more!

 Michigan has one of the best run games around. They do it with some intricate schemes. They are exciting to watch running the football and combine it with an efficient play action game.  Some of the schemes have come from their relationship with the Ravens, as you will see some of the Ravens schemes in the Michigan offense.

In this article:

(1)  Inside Zone

(2) Zone read slice 

(3) H Back Trap 

(4) Pin and Pull

(5) Counter

Inside Zone

2 examples of Inside zone were huge gains vs Ohio State

Vs  Michigan they run Inside  zone and catch Ohio State in a stunt. Knowles is in his Hybrid 4-2-5 front and they run a game with the stand up player to the side of the back. The nose guard goes b gap to the side of the rb and that LB loops to the play side A. The LB to the side of #7 who is off goes off a and the will LB has the b gap. Knowles made this famous at Oklahoma St. (See my post on it)

https://coachkoufootball.blogspot.com/2022/04/ohio-state-defense-2022-under-jim.html

You can see the movement as Michigan handles the hybrid LB and nose and the center is waiting for the LB who needs to get play side A gap.

The center picks up the LB and the frontside guard and tackle do a great job handling the LB and de. Look at the crease it creates. The cb is in man coverage so he has to take the #1 wr who just runs him off and they are off to the races. 

You can see the hole opening up and the RB is off to the races.

Below you see the cb getting run off by the #1 wr

The same play on the next series

The defense 4-3 cover 0

Both DT are playing A gaps. The problem on this play is the MLB doesn't scrape over the top to the play side b gap and they get a huge gain on the play. The scheme was sound but the LB has to get b gap with the play side olb filling outside in. Good design but nice execution by Michigan.

Straight Cover 0, Safety walked up to the H back side.

End Zone view

they go double a gaps with the DT 

Gap responsibly and they are plus 2 in the run game.

The mike doesn't get over the top and the center reaches the play side a gap DT  which creates a seem. Nice job by Michigan Center on both run plays. Nice job up friend as they get enough push to create a seem for the rb.

DT can't get off, mike gets caught in the wash and Edwards gets the seem he needs. 

Nice run and execution.

2 plays I really like are there H trap vs odd fronts and the zone read with both h backs leading if the ball is pulled.

#1 H Trap

Michigan runs  unique h trap vs Wisconsin who is in an odd front.

A couple interesting parts about this play.

#1 They go trips unbalanced  to the boundary

 12 personnel 

#2 They trap with the h back but also running iso with the fb.

They end up trapping with the h back and leading the other fb on the LB. It is a nice scheme and design with the fan on the frontside. 

                                      

      They ran this vs Wisconsin.                                    

 Nice job on the trap block vs the odd tight front alignment with the 2 defensive ends playing 4i.

They get a nice block and you can see the left side fanning it.

Here's 2 clips of the trap play vs the odd front. 

Zone Read:

Michigan end over  with 2 backs in the backfield. They bring the wr in motion and run the zone read with 2 lead blockers. It's a great counter for the teams that spill it because now you can get the 2nd h back on the lb after the de spills it. It's a nice change up and design in the run game.

Here's the zone read with 2 lead blockers. They can do it with 2 h backs or motioning with a wr and doing that way as well.

QB makes the good read

They get 2 on 2 on the perimeter.

TE seems and they get the good blocking on the perimeter. 

See the clip below.

Another version of the same play. This time they come out in 3x1 and come back to the single side with it. Nice job of getting both h backs out in front and this play is a touchdown if the safety doesn't Make a great play. Penn State was trying to spill it and the h backs read it and get on the edge. Again a great scheme and Nice play by the Penn State td stopping it from being a td. 

Penn State tries to spill it and the h backs get on the perimeter. 

They get the 2 blockers on the perimeter.

Here is the clip of the play.

One more version of the play for a nice 15 yard gain.

Again they get the 2 blockers leading it.

De plays the RB which allows the 2 blockers to get on the edge and lead block it.

They have a nice situation as both H backs turn the corner.

Good play design and execution.

Counter 

Michigan will run some great counter blocking schemes. 

Vs Ohio State, they get a 4-3 vs 12 so they decide to run it away from the tight end at the 1 technique. They pull the center and tackle on the play to create better angles.

see it start to develop.

They get the guard on the good kickout

Good execution.

Here's the same scheme vs Washington.  They pull the center and h back vs the 4-2 front to the side of the 2i. 

LG- block the 2i

LT block play side LB

C- pull and kick out

RG-block DT 3 tech his side

RT-Block DE to his side.

H-pull and look for lb

Center makes a good block as they take advantage of the angle. 

The h leads thru and its a nice gain.

Nice job as the RB breaks free.

 Clip Below.

Pin and Pull

The Pin and pull is a major play in the offense and they can block it various ways with different pullers depending on leverage to gain advantages by creating angles. 

They go trips to the field and Penn State goes corner over. They have the OLB to the bottom of the screen. The Tackle does a nice job on the play kicking the olb out and the running back reads the block nicely and cuts it inside. They get good angles and run it for a 15 yard gain. 

The OT kicks out and the rb reads it and makes an excellent cut.  Nice job on the read.

They get the nice kickout and the RB turns it up. 

Big gain.

Here/s another big run vs Penn State 3x1. They run it again to the backside te side of 3x1. 

Get the ball on the edge and hit it for a big gain.

They seal the outside and get the nice pull by the lineman

Tackle kicks out the olb, the guard logs the other inside lb and they are off for a nice 7- yard gain.

They get the tackle and guard on the outside which makes the play.

RB breaks free for a good gain on the play/

See clip below.

Vs Colorado State-They run it at the 1 tech or 2i. They get a 2i and a 9 tech(end outside)

The Scheme

TE-block the corner

PST-block down

PSG block the 2i

Center-pull and kickout

Backside Guard-block 3 tech

Backside Tackle-pull for the LB

Nice scheme and design

even front

They pull the center and backside tackle on it.

good execution.

Vs under front on the goaline, they run it with the wing te with a 2i(tough to tell, 5 and a 9)

PSW-blocks the 9

TE-blocks the 5

T-blocks down

G-pulls and kicks

C-logs the lb

backside og, to cut off.

You see the RG and Center pull on it. 

They get a great down block and and both the Center and guard on the perimeter.

RB reads the kickoff and they get a nice run for the TD.

Here's 3 additional clips of the Michigan Pin and Pull.

I hope you enjoyed this article and the Clips of the Michigan Run Offense.

Joe Moorhead Offense- Part 2 RPO Game

 Joe Moorhead loves to run different RPO Variations. There aren't many better than him at devising the rpo game and if you leave an uncovered wr open with a soft cushion, you can be pretty sure his teams will see it throw it for a nice 6-8 yard gain on 1st and 2nd down. He will do it from condensed splits and regular splits as well. His qbs are also well trained to see a pressure and make the throw like in the 1st example below.

They are an integral part of his offense and responsible for early down success.

#1 RPO off counter  

Here's one he ran vs Ohio State to the boundary. They run it off the press cb who on both examples blitzes. The WR alerts the CB that their may be a CB fire and Moorhead does a good job calling the RPO off the counter run action.

#2 RPO off H Back ISO  19 or 29 

The 2nd run action is Hback ISO. The H Back iso action freezes the will and allows the easy access  throw with the CB fire. Easy read for the QB. Nice play call on the boundary. 

#3 RPO ISO with the out cut RPO

The Oregon Offense reads the LB and the part that makes this effective is the read for the OLB vs the h back. The LB gets slice action on it which freezes the LB and gives the QB an easy access throw. on the out cut. 

#4 is off the H Back iso. Ohio State plays it soft with cover 3. The H back inserts on iso and the out is available for the QB. The pass is deflected but the RPO to the boundary was there.

Here is the film that goes with the 4 clips above regarding Joe Moorhead's boundary RPO game. These were effective when he played Ohio State.

RPO Shovel with chute route with 2 blockers

This is an option as the wr #3 runs the chute. If you get 3 over 2 throw the chute route. If it is covered you have the shovel option on the DE.

Nice design by Moorhead.

3 over 2 so he throws it

Out isn't covered he has the shovel option.

Nice job by Coach Joe.

They run the same design above on the goaline for a nice TD

They get 3 over 3 so the out cut isn't there. The QB is forced to read the DE and reads it as the DE takes away the shuffle. The QB uses his ability to get outside.

The man coverage pulls the safety out on #3 and the Guard logs the LB on his pull. Leads to an easy walk in touchdown.

Here’s a similar concept at Penn State vs Washington. 3x1 with TE to the boundary. Qb sees the CB fire throws the out cut. 

QB designed RPO Counter Run game

A QB designed counter with the option to throw it. They motion to empty and the qb has the option to throw the swing to the rb or run counter. The numbers with the 4-1 box dictate counter with excellent angles.  They get a nice presnap look vs endover with a 2i and 5 weak with an alley db at 10 yards. They are able to block it with great angles while also getting up on the safety with the h back. The ILB runs with the motion.

UCLA is in man coverage with the weak side cb at 8 yards

presnap look with the 2i , 5 and safety at 10. Easy down blocks. 

Here's another rpo vs Utah

Utah brings pressure to the boundary.

Another pressure from the bear front. They bring the cb to the bottom of the screen and the mike to the boundary vs the closed set. They get a 2x1 on the tackle as the tackle blocks the LB. In the rpo game that leaves the cb unblocked, qb does a nice job getting the throw off. 

You can  see here as the guard takes the blitzing inside linebacker the cb has a nice free run at the qb. Qb does a great job reading it and is well. coached to get the ball out. The safety does a nice job tackling the wr at 5 yards. 

Clip with it.

Another clip from that game.

They run Duo rpo and run the #3 to flat with #2 wr cracking on the man over #3. They get a good block and 15 yards on the play. 

Part 2 of the Joe Moorhead offense and the RPO game is complete. I may add some more as we go. 

Falcons offense Run Game 12 formation 2x2 Wide Zone Toss Windback

 In 2016, the Falcons offense was #1 in scoring with 540 points. It was one of the best offenses of all time. They did it with a very sound run game as well as a vertical passing game with Julio Jones at wr and Matt Ryan at QB.

Some of the stats were incredible that year. 6.7 yards per play! That is more than some teams yards passing per play in today's NFL. They averaged 418 yards per game and 33 points per game. They had a very heavy playaction approach which was accomplished with a strong under center wide zone run game

It all started with the coaching staff. The staff was led by Kyle Shanahan, Mike Lafleur, Mike Mc Daniel , Raheim Morris  at wide receiver and long time offensive coach Chris Morgan. They also had one of the best Running Back coaches in Bobby Turner, who went wherever Shanahan went in his career. It was a tremendous staff.

The nice thing was they had a very good fullback that they lined up as a tight end and they can run many different formations with him. It gave them the versatility to move him around and get numbers In the run game. They could go 21 or 12 personnel as a result. 

Let's break it down and look at some of the pieces.

12 personnel 2x2

Wide Zone

It all started with the wide zone. They did a tremendous job running wide zone and either cutting on the backside or fanning it at times. Here they fan the backside and look at the land the running back has to run thru.

Look at the hole the left guard and left tackle create by fanning the back side. What a job they do.

In the 2nd example they come out balanced in 12 and run wide zone again. They run it left as the 49ers come out in a 3-4 scheme. The 49ers play a 4i on the left and 5 tech with the dt on the right. 

It all starts with a reach block by the Left Tackle on the defensive end which allows the TE to get to the LB. The LG also is able to get to the  next level as the center and right guard handle the nose and RT

The TE is on the 2nd level the tackle has the DE reached and you can see the excellent blocking starting to develop. Great angles as the front side is sealed. On the 5th step the RB makes a decision and his is to keep it outside. 

THE wr is important as he executes a find block. Find the run support and that is the Safety. He makes his block and the TE washes the LB to the sideline. The RB sees it and makes his cut up the alley for a nice touchdown run.

Look at the seem created. The great execution by the LT and excellent seem created.

Here is wide zone vs the Rams. They run it at the 4i as the Rams are in an even front. They are in 12 but with 2 wr to the left of the formation. Here/s the front. 

They do a nice job with the edge and angles.

Again, the best thing about this is they fan the backside and try to cut a run lane. The other thing teams will do on the backside which is another effective way of doing it.

These are a few examples of the wide zone. Another 12 run is toss windback.

Toss Windback is similar to split zone up front with the toss action to get the defense moving.

The 49ers come out in an under front as the Falcons are in 12 balanced again. This is a tough front to run against as they have one more blocker than the offense can block. They toss it left with the te coming across to block the OLB on the edge. 

They block it like split zone but toss the ball to try to get more movement horizontally from the defense to create run lanes.

#20 the safety will be unblocked on this play.

You can see the blocking develop.. With #20 being unblocked. Center land left guard do a nice job

Nice lane develops and Coleman sees it. Nice job on the cutback and solo blocks on the backside.

The mike is able to get off the block or this was an even bigger play. 

Here is just one post on the falcons wide zone and toss windback. More posts coming on the Falcons 2016 top ranked offense.

2021 Coastal Carolina Football Offense Overview

Tiffany Henry, Coastal Football

• BOX SCORE

Coastal Carolina does a great job offensively. I will look at some of their concepts and why they are effective. For this series, I broke down 5 games from their 2021 season. They were 11-2 and had one of the best years in school history. Jamey Chadwell has been excellent as a head coach and Willy Korn and Newland Isaac did a great job that season. 

They were 4th in the country in points scoring 40 points per game. That is impressive numbers on the year and a credit to the coaching staff.

Lets break it down into 4 parts:

Let's start with the option game. They have so many different pieces and complementary plays off it that make it very difficult to defend. 

Part 1: T Option Package: They run triple option which is hard enough in itself to defend but have other elements they attach to it. You will see them run trap with option movement, a swing pass off the dive fake and a vertical play action passing game. You will also see some counter option, lead option and speed option. Lastly, they will run  dive option off wide zone movement in the other direction. Lastly, the playaction passing game makes it really hard to defend. 

Part 2: RPO/Play Action/ Crack Screen:They are very creative with their rpo and crack screen game. They are efficient on early downs. You will see crack screens, 3x1 rpo power schemes  with stick routes at the 3x1 side that freezes the lb. You will see rpo's off several run actions which creates tough reads for the LB's 

Part 3. Creative run schemes: You will see different variations of gap schemes, with man,  power, inside and outside trap, counter, wrap schemes  and some wide zone schemes thrown in. Ran a few boss plays out of 2 back with counter blocking in the other direction.  They  also run  jet sweep out of 12 personnel to the tight end wing side.  A very solid and creative run game. 

Part 4 Quick and sprint game: You will see some sprint concepts, some 3 step if you give it to them with 2 man snag, basic hitches, smash concepts and easy pass concepts on early downs to gain simple yardage.

These are the 4 parts I will discuss in my series and I hope you enjoy reading them.